


OUAT, episode 11: "The Last Days of This World"

by Omorocca



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-26
Updated: 2013-09-26
Packaged: 2017-12-27 16:09:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/980943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Omorocca/pseuds/Omorocca
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This one is heavy, I had to fill the many gaps in the show's story (it's not an obligation, I know, but to make my story work with the real one, I need to focus on the details and off-screen events). This new episode of mine covers 6 episodes, from the morning after Cora's death to the show's end. I used the show's problems as fuel to insert my story and I'm rather pleased with the results. You'll see why, even though she should be a regular, Ruby was so underused since Cora's death (she was busy with my characters, of course). You'll see why, after making her cry over the phone, Rumple took three friggin days before going to see Belle (these authors take the news of someone's death too lightly). You'll see some Rumple and Bae bonding and how I handled Maleficent who's alive in my story, undead in theirs...<br/>My characters want to help the main protagonists but usually can't (so the big story doesn't change) and the flashbacks are replaced by Maleficent's attempts at a Storybrooke life and trying to repay the debt she owes to her friend's daughter.<br/>I hope you'll like it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	OUAT, episode 11: "The Last Days of This World"

 

Fanfiction

Characters © OUAT writers and producers

Mother Gothel and Rapunzel © Grimm

Rebecca, Dominic and original characters are mine

 

 

Storybrooke, Maine

 

All the members of the hospital staff turned and got out of the way when they heard the soft tick-tock of the cane. By then, everyone knew Mr Gold’s lover was a patient of the hospital; some of them knew he had been away for a while, leaving her care to Dr Whale and his team. Most of them were aware of the troubles that had happened and Nurse Toren’s efforts to make all those changes on how Belle was treated. They hoped Mr Gold would appreciate all these changes.

 

Or else, things would get ugly.

 

 

 

She didn’t see him at first, busy with all her files, but when she did, she dropped everything.

 

“Oh, my God. You’re back!”

 

Rapunzel ran to the other side of the nurses’ station and into Rumpelstiltskin’s arms, something she never thought she would do in her life. Timidly, he hugged her back with a soft chuckle.

 

“You found him? Please, tell me you found him!”

“I did. He’s even agreed to come back here for a while.”

“You mean, he’s in Storybrooke right now?”

“I set him up at Granny’s last night, after we’d returned. I wanted him to move in with me, but…”

“Give him time. He’ll come round, once he sees what a good man you’ve become… Well, maybe not good yet, but not so bad.”

 

They exchanged a small laugh as Rapunzel guided him to her new office so they could sit and talk alone, away from unwanted ears. The inscription on the door made him scoff.

 

“Nursing staff Supervisor? You? Really?”

“A lot happened in the two days you were away. First things first: how did it go with…”

“Baelfire. It went horribly. I didn’t know what to say so I said everything wrong and he rejected me again.”

“But he’s here now. What changed his mind?”

“Hook. He followed us to Bae’s apartment and stabbed me. We had to come here as fast as possible or I would have died.”

“Wha…” She gasped, put a protective hand on her belly and scoffed. “So letting Blue Beard loose after him didn’t work at all.”

“What?”

“Uh?... Oh, nothing!”

 

He gave her a little smile. Whether she liked it or not, his nature was rubbing off on hers. Except, in her case, instead of doing the harm herself, she was just pointing another maniac on the right direction.

 

“So, she said, Baelfire followed you here so you would cure yourself with magic .”

“More or less. Once I healed, he finally agreed to stay for a week, so I could try to make it up to him. We did bond when we thought I was dying and I think it’s because of it that he wants to give me another chance.”

“He saw a glimpse of his father through the Dark One… Great! And now that your son is back and you’re both safe, you want to check on his future step-mom.”

 

She gave him a wink that he answered with a smile.

 

“I called her yesterday and… well, I thought I was dying so I wanted to say goodbye.”

“Oh… that explains a lot.”

“What do you mean?”

“She asked the night nurse for something to help her sleep. She was pretty tense so the nurse gave her some Melatonin. I know because I had to question her about that, this morning. No one medicates Belle without asking me first. We had a misunderstanding while you were gone and I don’t want to repeat it.”

“That misunderstanding resulted in you landing this pompous title, I presume.”

“Whale. He felt bad for the way he handled Belle. Once David and I pointed it to him, he just gave me this job so I’d see all and would prevent this from happening again.”

“I owe you my thanks then… I would like to see her now.”

“Of course.”

 

 

 

By the entrance of her room, Rumpelstiltskin watched his Belle sleep, still on the influence of the sleep-aid medicine she had taken for the night. She couldn’t sleep because of the call he’d made the previous day, because he had scared her.

 

He watched her rest for half an hour and then decided to leave.

 

“I’ll come back tomorrow”, he told Rapunzel.

“Do you want me to tell her you came to visit?”

“No… I-I think I should be the one who tells her I’m not really dead. If she wakes up on your shift, call me?”

“Of course I will.”

 

He walked back out and to Granny’s Bead and Breakfast, right on time to catch his son leaving.

 

“Bae… I, uh… Were you doing something today?”

“I was going to meet Henry at the park. He told me Emma’s dad has shown him how to fight with a sword. He wants to show me.”

“Oh…”

 

He looked almost disappointed.

 

“Wanna come?” Baelfire asked.

“uh… no… I wouldn’t want to make things uncomfortable between you and your son.”

“You mean you’re not even going to try?”

“No, I’m trying. I’m trying, son; I-I just don’t know if it’s a good idea to pull the rest of your family into this for now. I mean, it’s obvious you haven’t forgiven me yet and I believe I have to make things right by you first and then try to deal with everyone else.”

“Well, I’m going to spend today with Henry. He’s a part of my life now and of yours too. All I ask is that you try. If it gets too heavy, you can leave and try again another day. Besides, he won’t complain. I think he likes you.”

“… really?”

“Yeah, I thought that was weird too”, Baelfire concluded, half-joking.

 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

That afternoon, when Rapunzel was walking home, she passed in front of the park and stopped for a moment.

 

Henry and his father were sword fighting, and a few steps away, Rumpelstiltskin was watching them. As she walked to him, she looked at the other two and saw it. It was too obvious to ignore.

 

“You could have told me your son was Henry’s father.”

 

He had a start at the sound of her voice and smiled at his friend.

 

“I didn’t?”

“Nope.”

“How did you know, then?”

“They’re playing like long-lost friends a game Henry usually plays with his grandfather, so he’s the one who picked the game. The man is trying to please him, maybe to get in touch with him and you’re watching them when you’re supposed to be with your son… You put all this together and anyone with half a brain will see it. Daddy Baelfire is trying to get a relationship with his son, while grandpa is watching in the hope he can do the same.”

 

He let a small laugh, but couldn’t help but worry. If she could guess it just by watching them, others would make the connection. What if they were to use this at their advantage?

 

“So the man who created the curse to find his son is related through that son to the woman destined to break it.”

“Fate is sometimes… complicated.”

“Ha! That’s the right word… By the way, Belle woke up an hour ago. I tried calling you but I understand you were busy.”

 

He sighed and went through his coat pocket to pull out a cell phone. He looked at it and back at her with an apologetic smile.

 

“I turned it off when we had lunch. I didn’t want to be distracted and I guess I forgot to turn it back on.”

“Your head must be a mess right now, huh?”

 

He simply nodded. Being a father again, after centuries alone, to an adult son who didn’t need him anymore, was a bigger challenge than he thought.

 

 

 

“Who’s that”, Baelfire asked Henry.

 

Henry turned to watch Mr Gold speak to ‘Nurse Toren’ and smiled.

 

“Oh, that’s Rapunzel. She’s a friend of your dad’s.”

“Really? Rapunzel? The one who lived in a tower with a witch? How did that come to be?”

“He killed her mother?”

“…”

 

Henry had a little shrug.

 

“Long story… The short of it is she forgave him once the curse broke and she remembered and they became real good friends after that. She forgave him because she knows he did that to get a special spell to help find you.”

“I guess I should have a chat with her, one day, to figure it all out. But, in the meantime…”

 

He resumed his attack on Henry who parried his thrust with a giggle. On the corner of his eye, Baelfire saw his father and the nurse hug before she left.

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 

The moment his mother got home, baby Gabriel began moving in his park, making happy little noises. On his rocking chair, by his side, his grandfather put down his newspaper to greet his daughter-in-law.

 

“How did it go at the hospital?” he asked while taking her bag and helping her with her coat.

“Real good!” she answered, picking her son up. “Rumpelstiltskin popped by to check up on Belle.”

“He’s back already?”

“Yeah. His problems aren’t all solved yet, but at least his whole family is in the same town now… Get this: he is Henry’s grandfather!”

“Wha… wow! Poor kid… and lucky at the same time.”

“Who’s Henry?” a woman’s voice asked behind them.

 

They turned to see Maleficent, fresh out of the shower, wearing a purple woollen sweater and a skirt. She looked so lovely, but so different from the fearsome dark fairy she used to be. The only detail she kept from her former life was the necklace she always wore, the necklace Gothel had enchanted to save her from certain death.

 

“It took me time, but I finally managed to understand how this shower thing works.”

“Wow…”, Rapunzel began, looking at the new look.

“I know. I did not pick this. This is what Prince Wilfried found for me… Or should I call him Dominic now?”

“You can sort it out with him later, Rapunzel giggled. He’s on the afternoon shift at the hospital so you can ask him when he gets home for dinner.”

“How long is she going to stay with us, my dear?” the king asked.

“Father, don’t be rude.”

“I still don’t trust her.” The fairy scoffed at the remark but he continued. “And you know the only reason Gavin let her into his house is that he can’t say no to you.”

“My mother trusted Maleficent, that’s enough for me and, knowing how much you and Gavin cared for her, it should be enough for you two as well.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I will love your mother until the day I die, but—”

“Ah, he finally admits it”, Maleficent teased, sitting on one of the couches. “That took you long enough.”

“Listen to me, you witch—”

“Witch? You truly know nothing of the magical world, do you?”

“Please, Rapunzel shouted. Both of you, please, stop it. We agreed to behave like adults here, so let’s try that. Gavin agreed to give Maleficent shelter until we find her a place. He’s out looking as we speak and, until such a place is found, let’s try to make this house as much of a home as possible.” She looked at the king in a motherly manner. “For your grandson’s sake.”

 

Gabriel looked back at her. Something in her expression reminded him of Gothel and he nodded, accepting the truce. Maleficent saw it too and simply looked at the young woman with a mix of awe and worry. None wanted to start a fight; Gabriel wouldn’t risk it with the baby nearby and the dark fairy knew she hadn’t regained enough powers to fight her old friend’s daughter.

 

“In order to get a place here, the king said, you’ll need a job. Mr Gold – I mean, Rumpelstiltskin – owns most of the land here and I don’t think he will let you live on it for free.”

“Unless I make a deal with him, Maleficent answered sarcastically. So, I need to find somewhere to work. I am guessing Rapunzel can get me something at the hospital, since everyone in her family seems to work there… Except you, who takes care of the baby.”

“If you must know, I am a volunteer at the hospital in the nights and weekends.”

“So the whole family really does work there.”

 

She was surprised to imagine a royal family cleaning bloody wounds. Gothel, she could have seen but King Gabriel and his son? This curse really changed people. Rapunzel saw the fairy’s face and smiled enigmatically.

 

“The hospital is where we all found each other. I was a volunteer during the curse. Wilfried and Gabriel were patients, because their curse had turned into a tumour and Gavin was a paramedic. He still is. So, now that things are better for us and we’re all free of curses, we try to give back what we can. Perhaps you could try it now that you escaped death.”

“I don’t think I could do that, Maleficent confessed. Even when my powers return, I don’t think I would handle well that many people around me.”

“Well, what would you like to do?”

 

Rapunzel sat down, the baby in her arms playing with her amulet. Her father-in-law sat by her side, facing the dark fairy who didn’t know enough about this world to answer that question.

 

“I don’t know”, she said.

“Of course... you’ve been living in the mines. You don’t have a cursed memory to help you understand this world. I have an idea. We’ll go for a walk in town and see who needs new employees. Some of us have moved to our old lives, which means there are jobs and houses available. I can also give you a crash course about what happened in town recently, in case someone talks to you about it. That might give you an idea.”

 

 

 

They walked on Main Street, stopping in every shop that needed help. Sometimes, Rapunzel would show some place and explain what happened there when Maleficent was locked underground. Gabriel would follow them, keeping an eye on the blond woman as well as on the baby, sleeping in the stroller his mother pushed.

 

At first, Maleficent wondered what would happen if they were to meet someone she once knew but, as the afternoon went by without problems, she felt she might enjoy living above ground again.

 

In the evening, they walked back home through that same park Rapunzel had met with Rumpelstiltskin earlier. It was now empty.

 

 

 

They had dropped Henry to the apartment Emma shared with her parents and were now walking back to the Bed and Breakfast when Baelfire broke the silence.

 

“So… did you enjoy spending time with your grandson?”

 

It was more of a snide remark than a question, since the grandfather had barely interacted with Henry all day. Only when the boy asked him questions did Rumpelstiltskin actually talk to him.

 

“It was difficult.”

“No kidding. The poor kid had to pull the words out of your mouth. You spoke on your own, what, twice at lunch and once when we went for ice cream… and it was to say ‘you’re welcome’, for Christ’s sake.”

“I- I know… I swear to you, Bae, I am trying.”

“Prove it. Tamara’s going to be here tomorrow or the next day, after she’s done picking up our stuff at the apartment. I’m taking her to meet Henry and Emma.”

“And you would like me to meet her?”

“Should I even have to ask? She’s my fiancée.”

“If you want to, son, then yes, I’ll meet her.”

“You shouldn’t be meeting her just because I want you to. Don’t you wish to know the woman I’m going to marry?”

“Of course, Bae… And I’m very happy you want to give me that chance. What I fear is that it might be too soon. Does she know you have a son?”

“Yeah. Emma and I bumped into her when we went to get a car. They met, briefly, and now Tamara is very eager to meet Henry.”

“Does… Tamara know who you really are?”

“Not yet, but she will as soon as she gets here.”

“Then maybe we should wait until she’s adjusted to that reality before you introduce us.”

“Are you afraid she’ll hate you for giving me up?”

“I didn’t… I didn’t give you up. Not in the way you think, and I am pretty sure she can’t blame me any more than you already do. I’m only thinking of you and I believe it will be easier for you to break the news gradually with her.”

“Swear to me you’re not trying to find a way out of meeting her.”

“I promise you, Bae. The moment you feel like she’s ready, once you’ve told her the truth, I’ll meet your betrothed.”

 

They were at the gate of the inn. It was pretty clear Rumpelstiltskin wasn’t allowed to follow his son any further.

 

“No one uses this word anymore, you know”, Baelfire concluded with a half-smile.

 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 

The morning after, it’s Ruby who came up with a solution for Maleficent’s lack of a new life.

 

While coming to the hospital to visit Belle, she also dropped into her conversation with Nurse Toren that she was helping at the animal shelter, now that David was too busy taking care of the town’s bigger problems. He, his wife and their daughter could never rest since pretty much everyone in town relied on them to protect and guide them.

 

Ruby’s wolf ears had heard many things these past days. Small town gossip, personal conversations, evil plans behind closed doors. To add to everything else, this time apparently, Regina’s mother had died after trying to use Rumpelstiltskin to murder Snow and her family and it had made Regina mad with revenge, swearing to kill everyone again; everyone she hated and everyone her son cherished.

 

“Isn’t she tired of doing the same thing over and over even though she knows it’s completely stupid and bound to fail?”

 

Ruby shrugged at the question.

 

“No idea. To be honest, I’m only civil with the woman because Snow believes she can be good again and Henry still calls her ‘mom’. But I’m fed up with this constant plotting to kill everyone. If she tries to hurt Snow or Emma again, I’ll bite her face off.”

“I understand you. I seriously thought she had evolved from that phase. I guess it was foolish of me to hope she would be happy with just being a mother.”

“If she really cared for Henry, it’s gone now because all she wants is to hurt the people he loves and she still thinks he will accept her as the centre of his world when it’s over.”

“Well… if she’s on rampage again, I’ll double the protection around Belle. She’s bound to attack her for no reason again. All my staff is so busy, I hope I won’t have to get Ratched on that floor again.”

“You still call her that, I see.”

“Why not? I too remember this movie I’ve never seen.”

 

Ruby giggled.

 

“Well, I’ll go check on Belle before I get to the shelter. Good luck with the protective detail.”

“Thanks.”

 

Rapunzel sighed in pain. She knew none of her nurses was powerful enough to protect Belle if Regina tried to attack. As for ‘Ratched’, she may have gotten better but the witch’s daughter couldn’t forget that the nurse worked for Regina during the curse. She could decide to work for her once more. Rapunzel would never trust her around Belle, never again. The less she knew about Belle, the better.

 

 

 

In that afternoon, after all her work was done, both Rapunzel and Wilfried took Maleficent to the animal shelter to meet with the manager. They introduced her as a friend of Rapunzel’s mother, named Meghan, a name found in a book in Gavin’s house that the fairy liked. Though the manager wasn’t certain if he could trust this strange woman, it all vanished when Meghan met the animals waiting to be cared for.

 

“Oh, she’s a natural”, he said with a smile.

 

One of the dogs showed his agreement by licking the poor woman’s face and Rapunzel giggled. What Maleficent lacked in handling humans, she clearly had twice in caring for little pets.

 

They celebrated with supper at Granny’s, where Rapunzel tested her unborn son on some salmon, while baby Gabriel made a mess with his pureed carrots and Maleficent spent twenty minutes staring at her French fries before risking eating them. That made Gavin smile, and he decided that whatever suspicions he had left would have to end right there. The woman was a friend of Gothel, to whom his family owed everything.

 

 

 

That same afternoon, after a visit to the hospital where he learned that Belle had been moved to another room for her safety and that any visitor – even him – wasn’t allowed without Nurse Toren’s approval, Rumpelstiltskin left a message for the nurse and went to meet with his son. Baelfire could then tell him all about his fiancée’s reaction, when he had told her the truth.

 

“She freaked out at first, even accused me of making it up to hide something else. But then she spent the day in town, calming down and about an hour ago, she saw proof that I wasn’t crazy. She handled it pretty well. She’s out for a walk now and I think she’s ready to meet you.”

“Really? This was very quick.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, Bae. I just… I thought she would need time to adjust and that, in the meantime, we could work on our relationship.”

“Why don’t you just admit that you’re afraid to meet my fiancée?”

“No, no, no, no, not afraid. I’m concerned, yes, but that’s mostly because I don’t want to disappoint you any more.”

 

Mostly. He had said ‘mostly’ because it wasn’t the sole reason and he couldn’t lie to his son. But Rumpelstiltskin had seen how his son was around Emma and he knew there was still love, true love between them. Whether or not it could work again between the Saviour and the son of the Dark One was something else entirely, but one thing was sure: Bae’s relationship with Tamara was bound to fail, as long as he still carried a torch for Emma.

 

But he couldn’t tell him that. It would break his heart.

 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 

The third time was the right one. Rumpelstiltskin went to the station and saw that ‘Nurse Toren’ was there. She led him to Belle’s room and asked the guard not to disturb them. A few minutes later, they were arranging Belle’s release from the hospital to the care of Mr Gold, not knowing one of the nurses at the station wasn’t doing her work, but rather listening to them.

 

She got up, unnoticed, and walked to Belle’s room. The guard in the corridor let her through, after she showed him her badge. She was on the list of approved nurses. She stopped by the entrance of the room and changed back into her original form. A few looks to make sure no one saw her do it and Regina entered the room.

 

An hour later, one of the security guards heard a noise and found the nurse whose appearance Regina had used locked up in a broom closet. But it was too late. Regina had already done her evil and Belle had disappeared.

 

They combed the hospital, while Rumpelstiltskin followed a lead by himself. When he called Nurse Toren’s office to tell them he had found her, everyone was reassured. Everyone except Nurse Toren. Something in the man’s voice has warned her that the good news weren’t so good after all. And they weren’t. Belle had found a credit card in her purse and, not knowing who it belonged to, used it to get new clothes and buy a large amount of alcohol, and it wasn’t even lunchtime yet.

 

 

 

Wilfried found his wife in a pitiful state. The stress of that morning’s events had been too much on this already complicated pregnancy. He brought her home to lie down but she couldn’t rest.

 

Something in Rumpelstiltskin’s voice was off, cold, calculating and terrible. She knew Regina was behind this and she knew he would want to make her pay.

 

“The Dark One is back.”

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

“Good news”, Wilfried said when he came back that evening.

 

He had gone to pick up ‘Meghan’ from her first day at work and returned. By that time, the witch’s daughter had received more information on her impish friend’s whereabouts. The news only made her feel worse and Wilfried hoped to lighten things up.

 

“I saw him in front of Granny’s diner. Belle came by a few seconds after we started talking. She didn’t recognise me… from outside of the hospital, that is.”

“So it wasn’t… really her?”

“I know what you mean. We didn’t speak much, but she was rude and I think she was drunk. She was wearing a very revealing dress too. Well, I think it was a dress. It was so short, it could have been a sparkly sweater.”

“That was to be expected, Rapunzel groaned. Belle is a classy lady. To make sure Rumple is repulsed by her, Regina made her into a tramp.”

“Do you think true love’s kiss will still work is she falls in love with him again?”

“I don’t think so. This new person would only love him for all the wrong reasons, everything Belle cannot love, like power, or money, or him controlling people. This love won’t be true. He’s already begun to wonder exactly that.”

“How do you know all that?” Maleficent asked.

“When Rumpelstiltskin killed her mother, Gavin explained, he stole half of her powers, half of her soul. Rapunzel had the other and, through Lady Gothel, they could sometimes feel what the other was feeling.”

“I got to know him a lot more than I expected to, the woman continued, gasping for air. Now, the connection is broken, because the amulet is whole again… I don’t know why I still feel his pain.”

 

Maleficent didn’t immediately answer, but she had her own idea on what that meant. She had seen such a curse before. And, contrary to what Rapunzel believed, it wasn’t the soul of her mother causing this, but rather the magic she had inherited.

 

“I suppose you know him so much now, you can guess”, she said.

“Right… And right now he’s so filled with pain, he can’t even think straight. It’s only a matter of time before he turns back to darkness.”

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 

Baelfire blew out the candles and Tamara took her plate to wash in the sink when the door of the apartment opened.

 

“Neal! What are you doing here?” David asked.

“Oh… uh, hi David! Emma told us you were out tonight and we could use your apartment. I’m sorry, I thought you knew… My father was supposed to meet Tamara tonight and, well, we’re at the inn and I wasn’t comfortable with meeting at his house…”

“How sweet”, Snow said with a smile towards the young woman.

“Yeah, if he’d come.”

“Oh, damn it! Had I known, David said, I would’ve warned you. Something’s happened to Belle.”

“Really? Is it… Is she okay?”

“Regina gave her a cursed memory. She now believes she’s someone else who doesn’t remember him at all. She doesn’t remember her past life or her Storybrooke life during the curse. Only this. So tonight, he was taking her out to dinner at Granny’s to try to slowly make her love him again and remember.”

“Why doesn’t he just tell her who she is?” Tamara asked, showing a lot of concern for this woman she’d never met. “He could bring friends or family as proof, instead of hoping for a miracle.”

“Because she’s cursed, Snow explained. She will believe everyone else is crazy or playing a game with her. She will not cooperate, trust me. We have a friend who is stuck like this. His brothers try every day to make him remember and nothing has happened yet.”

“So, David continued, he will have to make ‘Lacey’ fall in love with him and then true love’s kiss will restore her memories.”

“That seems complicated.”

“Very… There’s no way of knowing if Lacey is capable of true love. She’s the kind of girl who gets drunk at the local bar all day and avoids anything serious.”

“I see the type”, Baelfire said.

 

There was an uncomfortable silence.

 

“Well, I guess I better call him to make sure he’s all right.”

“We’re going back to the inn, Tamara answered. We could drop by the restaurant.”

“You don’t mind?”

“He’s your father, of course I don’t. If you need it, you can stay with him…. with them. I’ll keep myself busy.”

 

She was eager to meet her fiancé’s father, but even more eager to report this recent trouble the Dark One was living. He wouldn’t notice her snooping around his town. However, if his situation turned sour, Rumpelstiltskin could become unpredictable and destroy their plans. She needed to stay away from him until she knew more.

 

 

 

Once they got there, they were greeted by a very grumpy Granny who answered their question regarding the man and his date’s absence. Mr Gold and ‘Lacey’ had ordered their food, the woman had even ordered a whole bottle of white wine, but they never ate nor paid for any of it.

 

“She left for the bathroom and never came back. He waited for a while and then went after her. That was about an hour ago. I have no idea what happened to Belle. She barely looked at me, she had no manners and, pardon me for saying this, but she looked as skanky as my Ruby did when she was cursed.”

“Apparently, she is cursed”, Baelfire explained.

“I know. Gold referred to her as ‘Lacey’. Even he didn’t know what to do around her. Another invention of our demoted mayor, no doubt.”

“Yeah, apparently.” He turned to Tamara with an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, honey. I guess we’ll have to wait again before you two can meet.”

 

Baelfire called his father, just in case, but there was no answer. He left a message on the pawnshop’s answering machine, just in case, and he and Tamara went to bed, trying to forget about it until the next morning. An hour after, he was asleep and did not hear Tamara leave the room. He didn’t hear her come back in the early hours of the morning, get undressed and put on her running clothes, pretending she had just woken up.

 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

That next morning, still no news. Baelfire called Emma, who asked her parents, but none of them had news of his father since he’d left the diner with Lacey.

 

While Tamara was out running, he went to get some breakfast at the diner and stumbled on Rapunzel, in civilian clothes, in great conversation with Ruby. He overheard the name ‘Lacey’ and quickly guessed they were comparing notes on what happened to Belle and his father.

 

He sat in a booth, unnoticed and listened.

 

“I swear, Rapunzel said, the only reason he didn’t rush to kill Regina was that he once promised Belle not to. But he almost did it at the last minute. I felt it.”

“The next full moon is in a week. I could do it.”

 

The two women shared a quiet laugh that made them feel better.

 

“Truth is, I would probably let you do it, Rapunzel sighed, if I didn’t feel so responsible. I triple-checked every nurse, every guard, every janitor, and Regina still managed to attack her.”

“There’s only so much you can do. You are a good person; you’re bound to play fair. She cheats, hurts innocents to get her way, but she always ends up losing in the end. Just wait. She’ll come back crying in a few days, begging for Henry’s forgiveness.”

“This time, I won’t give her a tissue. She tried to kill me and my baby, but she assured me she’d changed. I’m exhausted and I’m not going to last long if I keep forgiving her, like poor Snow White does.”

“You’ve forgiven _him_ , though. Gold.”

“That’s different. He actually gave me something worth forgiving: he saved the baby Regina had hurt. I guess Regina must have been like that once, that’s why Snow forgave her in the first place. She saw something good still in her. Now she gives her more chances out of nostalgia.”

“They’re technically family.”

“That makes it even worse. When you agree to be someone’s mother, you act as a mother. She failed miserably with Snow, she should have learned. Now she’s doing the same to Henry.”

“Not every mother is like Lady Gothel. Some are monsters. Mine was.”

 

Baelfire could sense the conversation was headed towards a more personal territory. He left the diner, before hearing what made Ruby’s mother so reprehensible. Did she abandon her like his own mother did with him? Was the girl’s grandmother forced to play more than one parent, like his father was, before he became that thing?

 

He walked towards the pawnshop, hoping Rumpelstiltskin would be there, but it was closed. Maybe it was too early. He walked to another store and asked directions to his house, not knowing he was near the bar where his father had beaten a man nearly to death the previous night. A bar, on top of which, Lacey had rented a room, again on Mr Gold’s credit card. Not that she cared who paid.

 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 

“So, your fears have been confirmed”, Gavin said, sitting down in worry.

“Yes, everything that could have gotten wrong last night… has.”

 

They were all in the living room of Gavin’s house and Rapunzel had just told them why she had been so sick the last few days. The gossip she exchanged with Ruby who had heard the news from her grandmother didn’t help reassure her and there was something else, something worse, that had destroyed all the hope she had left.

 

“I went by the hospital after I saw Ruby. Someone was found during the night, a man, in a parking lot behind the bar this ‘Lacey’ was last seen. Some people even saw him flirt with her earlier. He was found beaten up, bleeding, right by Rumple’s car.”

“Crap!” Wilfried said, covering his son’s ears.

“One night with this woman and he lost it once more, Gavin thought out loud. Of course, he was on the verge of becoming dangerous, but now, there’s no way of knowing how far he’ll go.”

“Regina will not stop there, Rapunzel said. Now that she made him step out of the family, she can attack everyone else again. I wonder what will happen to poor Henry now.”

“And I thought our family was weird.”

 

While Gavin was saying that, the witch waved a hand on the coffee table that turned into a looking glass showing the boy, peacefully installing a bird house outside of his grandparents’ apartment.

 

“Well, he does look optimistic, Gabriel commented. I wouldn’t care about bird-feeding if I was in his shoes.”

 

They saw Regina approach him. It took some time for Rapunzel to master, but she managed to modify the spell to add sound.

 

_“What about everyone else?” Henry asked._

_“They die.”_

_“What?”_

_“I don’t have any other choice. As long as there are other people in our lives, you can never fully be mine. You loved me once, with them gone, you’ll love me again and you can see me as what I truly am: a hero.”_

_“Not if you kill everyone. You’re a villain.”_

_“Me? They’re the ones keeping us apart. They’re the villains.”_

 

“She never was the sharpest one, Maleficent said, but she has grown severely dumb over the years. She truly believes that the people who are protecting this child from her petty vendetta are the ones to blame?”

“She was better, and smarter, until a few weeks ago, Wilfried explained. She was actually trying to be a good—”

 

He didn’t finish. He didn’t get to say the word ‘mother’… and he would never be able to use it to describe that woman again. They saw in horror Regina wipe out her son’s memory. King Gabriel had a shiver of disgust. Even the Dark Fairy gasped, as Rapunzel couldn’t hold it any more. She exploded, as if the spell had been cast on her own son.

 

“You _bitch_! You disgusting, rotten, selfish… tramp! You do not play with your son’s mind. You _know_ what this spell does to a child. It is forbidden! You’re hurting him. You are his mother, you senseless, idiotic poor excuse for a witch!”

“Can I kill her now?” Maleficent asked.

“No objection from me”, Gavin answered while Wilfried was calming Rapunzel down. “If no one stops her, she’ll destroy him.”

“All right, she doesn’t know I survived the battle in the mines. Had I died, what would be left would have been stuck underground. I’ll follow her around town and figure out a way to stop or destroy her.”

“Keep us informed, Wilfried said. If you can stop her without killing her, it would probably be the best. If not… I don’t think I’d care anymore.”

“I want to make her pay for what she did to me, but… why are you letting me do this?”

“Rapunzel has it from her mother, Gabriel explained. They have a need to protect everyone, no matter what the price to pay is.”

“And Wilfried has it from his father, the witch added. They never trust magic and fight anyone who uses it with ill intentions.”

 

The two exchanged a sad smile. The curses of these two families couldn’t have been more compatible. But Maleficient knew Rapunzel’s rage wasn’t only due to her mother instincts. She had inherited something else from Gothel. Her condition was proof enough. She had felt the forbidden spell through her veins, just like the fairy did.

 

“Emma broke the curse, Gavin said, making our family happen again. We’ve kept an eye on her family ever since. And now that Henry’s father happens to be Rumpelstiltskin’s son, we will fight even more to keep him safe from his new enemies. Even if it means his adoptive mother has to go.”

“… his son?”

 

 

 

After they had kept her posted on what they knew – and also on the gossips they’d heard – Maleficent left to pay a visit to her old friend. Only, Regina wasn’t that to her anymore. The woman who had betrayed their friendship and kept her locked-up only to be sacrificed was now dead to her. Nothing would make her happier than seeing the former queen suffer… by her hands, preferably.

 

After about an hour of walking, she finally saw her pull out of one of those strange mechanical carriages in front of what Rapunzel had described as a library. Having recovered from the phoenix spell Gothel had given her, Maleficent managed to make herself invisible and entered the library as well, before the door closed.

 

Once inside, she stayed as immobile as possible, not to make a sound. She waited as Regina, not knowing she was being watched, opened a piece of paper roll she had in her coat pocket, read it, and then hid it on a shelf between two books. A minute later, a man entered the library.

 

“Finally! What took you so long?” Regina asked him.

“You missed me already?” he asked in a flirting tone.

 

She didn’t answer but moved her hand towards a strange door on a wall that opened on a metal box. In the same shaft Maleficent had crawled out of. It had taken her a whole day. Regina and the man entered the box and she followed.

 

Once downstairs, she learned right away the man had been a friend of Regina’s mother and that his purpose here was to serve as a diversion for the presumed-dead fairy, so Regina would be free to look for a ‘trigger’, something the man learned when the witch shoved him down the pit.

 

_“Good thing some of my power is back”,_ the fairy thought while following the man down the pit.

 

To appear like she was back from the dead, Maleficent remained invisible and simply attracted dirt around her. It was easier than having to make a whole golem shape. The man believed it and began fighting her, rushing to stab her with his hook.

 

It didn’t take too long before Maleficent grew too tired to fight. Every minute took a ton of her energy and soon, she wouldn’t be able to remain invisible. She also needed to get out of that cave. She made all the dirt fall, as if she had been defeated, and watched Hook stand there, not understanding his victory. As he slowly walked out of the hole, she floated out as well and entered the metal box with him.

 

She had to refrain from laughing at him, standing uncomfortably in the box, feeling watched and looking all around to see who or what was staring at him.

 

When the door opened, two people she didn’t know were waiting for Hook.

 

“Where is she?” the woman asked.

“Getting the ‘trigger’, as we speak, Hook answered. Whatever that means. We should send the net back down, if we want to catch our fish.”

 

Maleficent stood in a corner and waited, as Hook and the two others were returning the elevator back downstairs. So, they were enemies of hers, waiting to trap her. She thought of showing herself to them.

 

“Did she take the bracelet?” the man asked.

“Took it from my hands and put it on instantly.”

“Great, we’ll activate it as soon as she’s back up, so she doesn’t suspect anything until it’s too late. It’ll block her magic.”

“Are you sure it’s going to work? She’s very powerful.”

“So are the people we work for”, the woman answered in a pretentious tone. “We will take her and whatever she was looking for.”

“What will you do to her?”

“Why do you care?”

“I don’t. But she’s the daughter of a late friend.”

“She is part of this town; she doesn’t belong in our world. We will destroy her, just as everything else here and once magic is gone from this earth, you can have your revenge on the Dark One.”

 

Maleficent withheld a gasp. They weren’t only there to get back at the queen, but to kill everybody. She regretted her fight with Hook; it had made her too weak to fight them. All she had left to do was watch.

 

And the elevator was coming back up with Regina in it.

 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 

As she walked home that evening, back to the home of her benefactors, Maleficent wondered if, with all of Gothel’s powers, Rapunzel could do something about this destructive trigger. Maybe they could get Rumpelstiltskin to help, since his son and his lover would also be in danger.

 

The paper in her hand could help figure it out.

 

“They what?”

 

Gabriel was destroyed by the news. Now that his son and grandsons were safe from the Fisher King’s curse, this new horror was threatening them once more.

 

As for Rapunzel, it only added more problems on her shoulders. She had felt something happen, Maleficent knew it. She was shivering, pale and in pain. If they managed to save themselves from that new curse, it would still take a miracle for her second baby to come out alive.

 

“I found this”, she said, sitting in front of her friend’s daughter. “Regina hid it, I think as a safety, in case this ‘Hook’ betrayed her. It contains the instructions to activate this device. I believe you and I can stop this from happening.”

“You and I? Maleficent, you are barely recovering from the phoenix spell and, unlike my mother, I do not know _all_ the protective spells.”

“You have the power within you. All you have to do is let it out and I’ll use it to stop the trigger.”

“Absolutely not, Gabriel said. Rapunzel is weakened enough. I will not let you endanger her.”

“You don’t even know what she has. How can you be so sure, I’ll make her worse?”

 

Wilfried jumped into the conversation before his father could answer.

 

“We should go to Rumpelstiltskin with this. He’ll help if the two people he loves are threatened as well.”

“I agree, the king answered. And it’s his curse. He must already know what to do.”

“”No.” Rapunzel shook her head. “This is Regina’s curse now. He gave it to her so she controls it. Otherwise, he would be able to reverse Lacey to Belle.”

 

But she had a guess, a theory there was another reason he hadn’t. She would have to meet Lacey to confirm it.

 

“We could try to rescue Regina, Gabriel suggested. If we save her, we’ll get the trigger back, she would owe us and maybe she would accept to stop this nonsense.”

 

 

 

They talked about it all night and worked three different approaches. Wilfried and Gavin were to look for Regina and try to rescue her – soliciting the help of Emma and her parents on the way. They would probably have an idea of where she was. Rapunzel was to rest first and then go to Rumpelstiltskin, her friend, and see if they could try something to stop the trigger. Gabriel, still not trusting Maleficent, volunteered to take her to search Regina’s office and house, in case there was an answer there.

 

They searched the office first, entered a few minutes after Emma and her family had left it, not knowing how close they were to bumping into them. Maleficent saw the mirror on the wall and the apples on the table.

 

“Old habits are hard to break, my friend?”

 

Gabriel walked to a glass cylinder with a plant inside it. He opened it to look closer.

 

“What do you suppose that is?”

“I don’t need to suppose, Gabriel, I know. This is the plant from which magic beans grow.”

“She has magic beans?”

“Look closer, Gothel’s undoing, do you see beans on it?”

“She must have harvested them… and don’t call me that.”

 

Maleficent smiled and took a clipping of the plant, as Gabriel kept on looking around. Maybe she could grow some for her personal use.

 

“These people who took her, they have the beans and the trigger. They could kill us all and escape.”

“These beans only make you travel through magical worlds”, Maleficent answered while examining the plant. “You need a different variety to get to a world without magic, and last I heard, this breed doesn’t exist anymore. They have all been destroyed centuries ago and the Giants only managed to restore this variety. Rumpelstiltskin’s son was the last person known to use the other kind, to come here. If they use these beans, our friends would end up surrounded by magic and unable to destroy it this time.”

“Well, they’re not the only idiots I’ve met. They could still try it.”

 

Maleficent laughed this time and joined him to search the desk. She paused at the computer.

 

“What in the world is this supposed to be?”

“That’s a computer. We use it to store and research information. An entire archive stored into a single machine.” He typed a few things but sighed. “And of course, it’s password-protected.”

 

He paused for a moment and then typed “Henry”. The computer unlocked automatically.

 

“How did you do that?”

“I’m a parent. The child should always be the first thing to come out of your mind.”

“Ah… maybe you are not as much of a dimwit as I thought.”

“There is only one person who can call me that and you are not her.”

 

He searched through some of the files, but only found political business. In one of the files, he opened some links that happened to be phone taps. Mary Margaret and David’s phones were among her taps, as well as a phone registered to Mr Gold.

 

“The phone he gave Belle. Regina’s been to her room twice, she could have planted the tap there.”

“Even I know it’s not good.”

“Well, I’ll try to undo this.”

“You know how this ‘tap’ works?”

“No, but on every computer there is a ‘help’ section that tells us what to do.” He searched how to uninstall the taps, and then delete them. “All I have to do is follow the instructions… after I’ve sent myself copies of everything, just in case.”

“Now I see why Gothel was so found of you.”

 

 

 

A few blocks away, Wilfried and Gavin were looking for Emma and her parents. They were not at their apartment and not at the station either. They decided to go to the diner and enlist Ruby’s help, but she was already busy keeping watch on Henry who was reading his book. Luckily, Granny took him with her, leaving the werewolf free to help the two men.

 

“When you find my mom, tell me”, the boy said.

 

There was something off about him. The prince and the guard knew it was a residual of the blackout spell Regina cast on him. The simple mention of her name had made him numb.

 

They took Ruby to the library and, when she picked up Regina’s scent, she led them running all the way to the docks where the strong smell of fish covered everything.

 

“She’s somewhere around here… but I have no idea where.”

“If they planned ahead, they know they may have to run away, Gavin said. They’ll be near a boat to avoid being surrounded. We should try the boathouses first.”

“Did I call you a genius lately, Gavin?” Wilfried asked.

“I think you just did. Let’s just hope these people are smart too, otherwise, they’ll be hiding anywhere.”

 

 

 

On her own with the baby, Rapunzel tried to rest but only managed to be more stressed out. She picked up the phone and called Rumpelstiltskin, still wondering if he was in the right state of mind. It rang over and over, but no one picked up.

 

“Maybe he’s with his son”, she hoped.

 

But she knew he was with her. His son would have made him better, and she could feel he was getting worse. Regina’s monster was keeping him busy, ignoring everything else.

 

Slowly, she got up, put the baby in the stroller and went out for a walk.

 

On her way, she saw Emma and Rumpelstiltskin’s son from a distance. She tried to shout but they didn’t hear nor see her. She was in no shape to run after them.

 

“Damn!”

 

She kept walking to Mr Gold’s pawnshop, feeling the dark energy flow from it. Was she really about to enter this place with her child?

 

She passed a hand over baby Gabriel’s head, putting another protection spell on him and then scoffed. It was the fourth she had cast on him since he was born. One would have clearly sufficed.

 

“I’m turning into my mother.”

 

 

 

“I thought you were a man who… who wouldn’t let anything stand in his way.”

“I am.”

 

_Ding!_

 

“Now that?” he said.

 

Mr Gold pushed the curtain out of his way and walked out of the back store, his cane tick-tocking with every step.

 

“The entire world despises me, until it needs something from me. Then, it never leaves me alone.”

“Good to see you too, Rumple”, Rapunzel answered.

 

It was her. He stared her down. The woman who, only days ago, was his friend, family, now felt like a stranger to him. He had changed and she knew it. He could see she was feeling it.

 

“What do you want?”

“First, I wanted to see how you were doing. You didn’t answer my calls and I was worried about you.”

“Who died and made you his mother?”

 

_She_ had asked that. Lacey. She had walked to him, her hand on her hip in a provocative manner, looking at the pregnant woman like a rival trying to take her rich and powerful man from her. Rapunzel didn’t let that impress her.

 

“Ex-wife would be the technical term in this world. As for who died, I wish it were the woman who forgot to give you manners but, alas, she still lives. Which brings me to the second reason of my visit.”

 

Lacey shrugged, not caring in the least, and took a drink of her glass of alcohol. Gold, however, was not in a joking mode.

 

“Her step-daughter and her charming husband already came to me for help. They wish to rescue her and I owed them, so I helped. If I didn’t have this debt to honour…”

“I understand. I wouldn’t care less either, especially after I saw her brainwash her own son. And what she did to Belle and you, of course.”

“Ugh! Again with that Belle, Lacey moaned. Just because I look like her it doesn’t make me her.” She ran her hand on Rumpelstiltskin’s arm, seductively. “Mr Gold finally saw it, why can’t anyone else?”

“ _Mr Gold_ is blinded by pain. Losing your true love to a crazy sociopathic witch can do that to someone. Anyone with half a brain in town noticed it, except you. Too bad you didn’t just revert to the blank slate you used to be during the curse. At least that blank slate was kind and cared about others. But enough of you, something worse is coming.”

“Really?”

“Yes, _really_ ”, she answered, imitating Lacey’s accent and sleazy manner.

 

She didn’t want to speak in front of Lacey, but the girl seemed to be taking the conversation rather well, spells and all. True, she remembered her time in the hospital, so she knew Rumpelstiltskin had healed her magically and she probably remembered the conversation with Greg Mendell in her room.

 

“Before she was captured, she explained, Regina was planning to destroy this whole town and her weapon, curse, or whatever that is she took to help is now in the hands of her abductors.”

“Don’t tell me, Gold snickered. You thought, since I created the curse, I can help protect this town. You seem to forget that I gave that curse away.”

“It is still your creation. This town, these identities, these crazy names you’ve given us all; though I admit ‘Toren’ and ‘Fisher’ were very clever for me and King Gabriel. Names are _your_ signature, your power, proof that you are still in charge. Regina can’t use this curse without a manual of instructions.” She pulled the piece of parchment from her pocket but didn’t hand it to him. “You can. You know the weapons she can use and how to get to them first.”

“Regina can add spells of her own, dearie. If I controlled everything, I wouldn’t have had to take Lacey on a date to realise she’s different from Belle. I would have just moulded her to fit my will.”

“Maybe that’s precisely what you did. Belle wouldn’t let you dive back in darkness. She would fight and you would have to choose between evil and love. Lacey dives in with you. She wants the Dark One, not the man. So you’ve got both your power and your lover now, just like you always wanted. But you’re smart enough to know the illusion of love isn’t the same as the real thing. That’s why our fake names are on a divorce settlement somewhere in the town archives.”

 

Rumpelstiltskin walked away, closing the conversation. She knew she had touched a nerve.

 

“I can’t do anything for you, no matter how high the price you’re willing to pay.”

“Really?” She played with the amulet hanging from her neck and watched his expression change. “You once stole this to protect yourself and your son. Have you changed your mind about keeping him safe?”

“He’s not my son anymore. He made that pretty clear this morning.”

“So, you’re giving up, after all you did to get him back? The Rumpelstiltskin I know wouldn’t do that.”

 

Lacey giggled at the ridiculous name, but the man remained serious.

 

“You always believed you knew me, but you never really did, did you?”

“No, I knew the man that you are, not the monster.”

“We are one and the same, dearie.”

“No.” She shook her head and a tear escaped her left eye. “You’re wrong. Only now, you have no one left to remind you of the difference. You pushed your son away and chose Lacey over Belle. The two people you ever truly loved are gone.”

“And yet you’re sticking around”, Lacey commented.

“I care. That’s my biggest problem. I care about Belle and I’m not going to let you destroy her. Just as I’m not going to let the Dark One destroy Rumple. You don’t want to help us, fine! But when it’s over, I’m having a chat with your son. We’re not going to sit by and do nothing while you destroy yourselves.”

 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

 

The “Toren-Fisher” family reconvened in the evening, with Maleficent and Ruby, to discuss what they had discovered.

 

“We lost Regina’s scent, Ruby explained. But we found something else. The people who took her; I tracked their scent from the library to the Inn. It’s Greg Mendell and Neil’s fiancée, Tamara.”

“Greg…” Rapunzel remembered telling him not to speak a word of what he saw at the hospital. “So, he played me all along.”

“He played everyone, the werewolf answered. He pretended to be just some lost tourist while he was actually here on purpose. A purpose he shares with this Tamara. Emma said the woman had a list of people in town and their real identities.”

“Why? They’re not of our world, Gabriel said. They don’t know Regina, or any of us.”

 

Ruby shook her head.

 

“I don’t know.”

“How about her? Regina?” Maleficent asked.

“As we were getting back to the docs, Wilfried said, we saw Emma and her parents get her out. She was unconscious, but alive. We helped them get her to their apartment, while Snow White called the convent.”

“The convent?”

“That’s where the fairies live.”

 

Maleficent had a smile at the thought of all these good fairies, the ones who still had their wings, boarded up in a convent. There was something good about that curse.

 

“So now, Ruby said, Regina is safe, but this trigger thing is gone. Greg and Tamara must have taken it. And that’s not the worst. Tamara shot Neal and sent him through a portal, no one knows where. There’s no way of knowing if he survived this… he’s most likely dead.”

 

There was an uncomfortable silence and Rapunzel grew even paler than before.

 

“Does… does he know?” she asked, thinking of the man’s father.

“No idea. I think they’re so messed up right now about Neal’s death and the trigger that they haven’t thought of calling… Emma needs to tell Henry, so I guess Snow or David will tell Gold.”

“Someone should be telling him now.”

 

She got up, shivering, and everybody stopped her, even the dark fairy.

 

“Don’t even think about it, Gavin said. You are in no condition.”

“You’re in even worse shape than this morning, Wilfried added. What you need to do is rest.”

“But…”

“Gavin and I will go tell him, but you need to sleep. Please.”

“I- I don’t think I can.”

“Maleficent, can you… I don’t know… help her sleep with a spell?”

“I think I’m strong enough for a minor sleeping spell”, the fairy answered.

 

But Rapunzel refused. Even though she truly needed it, she didn’t want any more spells put on her while she was still pregnant.

 

“We’ll go to Rumpelstiltskin, Gavin said in a reassuring voice. It will be horrible to hear, I’m sure of it, but maybe it will wake him up a little.”

 

But they didn’t know that for sure. All these things happening at once were too much for the witch’s daughter. The constant threat of this trigger had finished making her too weak. She sat back down in shock, as her husband and brother made her comfortable. Ruby fetched her a blanket, terrified for her and her unborn baby.

 

“I smell a terrible weakness in her, she told Maleficent. What is the cause of this?”

“I’m not completely certain, but I know this: she’s using her mother’s power to keep the baby safe. The problem is: she may not recover and if she doesn’t…”

 

Ruby looked at Wilfried, worried to death and holding his dear wife.

 

“He’ll lose them both”, she said.

 

 

 

A few hours later, Rapunzel was finally sleeping, baby Gabriel in her arms. She would wake up every ten minutes, look at him, play with his hair and fall unconscious once more. But the king was keeping an eye on them while he and Maleficent combed through Gothel’s book of spells to see if one of them could help.

 

In the meantime, Wilfried and Gavin, escorted by Ruby, went first to the Inn, to watch if Greg and Tamara had returned. Happy, Doc and Bashful, who had kept guard, assured them they never saw the two outsiders. As for the remaining ‘conscious’ Dwarves, they had gone to the convent, called by the blue fairy.

 

“We should get there too, once we’re done with this”, Gavin said.

 

They drove to the shop in Gavin’s car, but it was closed and the doors were all locked. They tried Mr Gold’s house and even the bar where Lacey emerged. She was in her room, sobering up, but he was nowhere to be seen. They didn’t know that, at that time, he was in a park nearby, receiving the news of his son’s death. They didn’t know that, instead of wanting to help, he would accept his own death as punishment for having failed his son again.

 

They went to the convent, where the blue fairy was chatting with Grumpy, Sleepy and Dopey about a potion she had offered them.

 

“Are you sure he’ll take it?”

“I’ll offer it to him anyway, Grumpy answered. If we’re all to die, better be with the people we care about.”

“It’s not over yet, the blue fairy said. There might be a way to stop this. Emma broke the curse when even she didn’t think she could. Now she has some control of her magic, so—”

 

They saw they weren’t alone and stopped talking.

 

“Well, Gavin said. I guess everyone knows we’re all going to die by now.”

“Small towns can do that, Grumpy answered. Where did you learn it from?”

“You wouldn’t believe it if I told you… an old friend of Rapunzel’s mother.”

 

The fairy went very pale and asked the dwarves to leave.

 

“That’s all right, Sleepy said. We’ll pick up Sneezy at his store and regroup at the diner.”

 

They walked away to be with their brother one last time, before the end came. The fairy, still in shock, walked closer to the two men and the werewolf.

 

“Lady Gothel didn’t have many friends… Is it the friend I’m thinking of?”

“Depends, Gavin answered. Are you thinking of a dark fairy who can turn into a dragon?”

“She… she is here in this town as we speak?”

“Not only is she here, but just like us she’s willing to help save this town from being destroyed.”

“Which is why we’re here, Wilfried said. I know we can survive this. I once saw Rapunzel use one of her mother’s spells to save our entire kingdom… and she barely knew what she was doing back then. She’s too sick now to do it again, but we know it’s a possibility. Maleficent offered to help and we hoped so would you.”

“I don’t think we can undo this, the fairy softly objected. It was created by the one who cast the curse; it’s a part of the curse. Only Regina or Emma – since she broke the curse – could undo it, but I don’t think either of them is strong enough. Regina was severely tortured yesterday and I don’t think she’ll have recovered enough. As for Emma, she still needs to master her magic before she can be this powerful.”

“Well, if we can’t break this, maybe we can protect ourselves from it and rebuild once it’s passed.”

 

The fairy remained silent and it made Gavin lose his nerves, something that almost never happened in his case. He was a soldier, after all.

 

“You are the blue fairy, for crying out loud! Are you telling me you know of no way to keep safe from a thing a simple human created?”

“It would require using a kind of magic we are not allowed to use. Dark magic can sometimes only be defeated with dark magic. I would have to study this trigger to know what we can do and we don’t have time to—”

 

They were interrupted by a scream. Someone was running from the street, avoiding the collapse of a building, swallowed by some monstrosity designed to eradicate it.

 

“It has begun”, the fairy said.

 

She ran out on the street to look at the damage. The two men and Ruby followed and soon, they all began picking people up and sending them towards the town hall.

 

 

 

The door reopened and Wilfried ran in like he had seen the devil.

 

“What’s going on?” Gabriel asked, as Rapunzel woke up in cold sweats.

“We’re all gathering at the town hall. Gavin is outside waiting. We talked to the blue fairy and we’re still going to try something.”

“Mother’s book…” Rapunzel mumbled, as they were helping her up and taking the baby.

“I have it here, Maleficent answered. But you’re in no shape to use it.”

 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 

They arrived at town hall ten minutes later and many people were already there, guided by Ruby who had taken leadership of this whole shelter and dispatched people to warn every home. Her grandmother, with the help of Dr Hopper, had brought everything they could think of to keep the children and elderly comfortable. If they were to survive, it would be by working together. If not… at least they wouldn’t die alone.

 

Ashley – Cinderella in another life – was in a corner with her husband, his father and their daughter. Since the curse had broken, they had lived a calm, happy life. Coming back to this was a pure nightmare.

 

“How many more are coming?” the blue fairy asked.

“I don’t know, Ruby answered. I guess some will prefer to stay alone.”

 

She was referring to Rumpelstiltskin who was still in his shop when the Dwarves passed and had locked himself up since. Said Dwarves were all rushing the pharmacist Tom Clarke to drink from a beer stein.

 

“Come on, Sneezy.”

“What’s the point of all this? And I already told you, my name is Tom Clarke. Why don’t you just leave me alone?”

“Drink this, Doc said, and we’ll never bother you, ever again.”

“Promise?”

 

All six heads nodded. Tom sighed and took a sip.

 

“All of it, snotface!” Grumpy insisted.

 

He drank it all and felt nauseous. They helped him sit down.

 

“Do you remember now?” Sleepy asked.

“Y… yeah, I remember everything.”

 

They all hugged each other in tears, happy to have at least gained that back. Grumpy introduced Sneezy to Anton, the new member of their family. Tiny shook the hand of his new brother, happy to be still a part of the group, now that Sneezy had woken up.

 

The blue fairy approached Rapunzel who was surrounded by her family and Dr Whale, checking the vitals of his colleague.

 

“How are you doing?” she asked in a sweet voice.

“The pain is tolerable”, the witch’s daughter answered.

“She’s in horrible shape, the doctor said. All this stress and there’s something else that I don’t understand. It’s mostly _your_ department, Nurse Toren.”

“She’s feeling the destructive magic coming in, Maleficent said. Gothel was exactly the same. That’s one of the reasons why she could never use anything remotely associated to dark magic. It would have destroyed her from within.”

“You mean some kind of magical empathy?” the doctor inquired.

“In a crude manner of speaking. All power comes with a price. Gothel’s price was to be exposed to all the darkness magic has to offer. It made her insane over the years. Rapunzel here is using all of her strength to protect her children, born and unborn, so she can never restore her energy. But if we survive… she could end up like Gothel one day.”

“But only fairies and the Dark One are affected in their very beings by magic, the blue fairy said. Clearly you’re not suggesting Gothel was a fairy.”

“She was an orphan raised in the woods, Gabriel intervened. No one knew who or what she sprung from.”

“She could have been, Maleficent said. Or from a related specie. Fairies have a tendency to ignore their cousin races when it comes to sharing power… And now Gothel’s magic is in her chosen daughter, who wasn’t born to it, and it is slowly destroying her.”

“I just need… a little more… time… to cast the—”

 

But they didn’t let Rapunzel finish.

 

“We have the fairies, Wilfried answered. We have Maleficent. There are some witches in this town too. They will all work together. What you need to do is rest.”

“Protective spells…” She touched her mother’s amulet. “Lady Gothel makes the best… remember? I have… no choice.”

 

Wilfried was now in tears. Seeing his wife like this, like an old crippled maid, and still brave enough to risk her life to save them, was too hard to bear at such a time.

 

 

 

The woman was sitting there with her sister, brothers and all their families when she saw him come to her. Her heart turned in her chest.

 

“Hello, Marie.”

 

She looked at the man who was once her husband. Blue Beard was barely walking on his own, his face was covered with dark red veins and his skin had turned grey.

 

Behind her, her sister Anne recognised him as well and thought of acting… but thought again. The man was dying.

 

“What are you doing here?” Anne asked.

“I heard this is where we were to gather and wait for the end. I wanted to tell Marie one last thing before—”

“All right, everyone, Ruby’s voice said in the microphone. I know we’re all terrified but we’re going to try one last thing. We have no idea if it will work, but we cannot just sit and wait. We need anyone who has any object with magic – a talisman, a wand, _anything_ – as well as anyone who can do magic in the centre of the room, by the blue fairy.”

 

People gave room to the fairies, Rapunzel and Maleficent. Some brought them old relics that once possessed magic. A few witches stood in the circle. Ruby put her wolf cloak on the ground, with the relics and Gavin took out his ring, symbol of the captain of Gothel’s guard, and put it in the centre with everything else.

 

Blue Beard sighed and walked to the others, surprised to see Marie by his side.

 

“I guess I should be here”, he said, making Rapunzel jump. “I don’t have much left.”

“There’s this”, Marie answered, pulling out a little golden key from her pocket and handing it to him.

 

He took it, kissed her hand – which made her shiver – and threw the key in the middle.

 

“Marie. Of all my wives, you were the only one who didn’t marry me for my riches. What you saw was a lonely man who needed a wife and you were kind enough to be just that. I have treated you horribly and I am sorry.”

“It’s okay… it’s all forgiven.”

 

And she meant it. She had had the time to think about these events and she had forgiven him.

 

“Will you stand by me as I participate in this foolish attempt to save this town?”

“I don’t know what to do”, she confessed.

“Just stand by my side.”

 

She turned around. Her new husband was right behind her. He nodded his head and put his hands on her shoulders, understanding.

 

“That I can do”, she said.

“We’re improvising here, the blue fairy explained in a hurry. We’re going to pull all of our magic together, no matter what kind or where it came from and try to undo this destructive thing, if we can.”

 

Rapunzel sat up on her chair, Wilfried and Gavin holding each one of her hands and Gabriel sat by their side with the baby. The fairies formed the circles with the witches, Maleficent and Blue Beard. Beside Blue Beard, Marie held his hand, while her own family – sister, brothers, husband – were waiting in respectful silence.

 

“Nova!”

 

The young nun looked up. Grumpy had run to her.

 

“They say love is the most powerful magic of all, so it’s worth trying.”

 

And he kissed her. In front of all his brothers, of all the fairies and about a third of the town, the dwarf kissed the fairy.

 

“I love you.”

“I love you too, Dreamy.”

 

He smiled, took place behind her and hugged her tight.

 

“Let’s do this”, he said.

 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 

While Regina was down in the mines, trying to stop the crystal from destroying the whole town, Emma, her parents and Henry came in running, offering a solution: to use the magic beans and send the crystal away to another world. But, as she was opening the pouch to get a bean out, she realised the pouch was empty.

 

“Hook.”

 

So, they were going to die. It was only a matter of time. Regina felt it becoming harder and harder to delay the destruction.

 

And then, it became easier.

 

 

 

On the other side of the town, every magical being began to work on a protective spell that would engulf the entire town. By their side, the people who loved them gave them support, feeling ridiculously useless. The blue fairy gathered all this power coming from different sources and fed Gothel’s spell, cast by her daughter.

 

The people who looked outside at the wreckage saw that it was slowing down even more. All Dwarves hugged each other, hoping to pull through; Cinderella kissed Thomas and her baby girl as if it were for the last time. From the main entrance, Jefferson came in running with Grace. After spending the day home together, they had decided to be with others, in case it was the end. Jefferson saw the magic circle, understood immediately, and picked something from his pocket: a watch that stopped the day Grace was born. He threw it in the circle, not really believing it would do something and grabbed Grace to go sitting by a group of parents and their kids.

 

 

 

Regina held once more, but she was getting weaker and the ‘outside help’ would soon have to hold the threat alone.

 

But Emma stepped in.

 

“If you can’t do it, maybe _we_ can.”

 

And she used her own true love magic on the trigger, making it weaken.

 

 

 

The blue fairy felt it and reopened her eyes.

 

“Emma just stepped in”, she said with a smile that reassured many.

 

Rapunzel felt it too and signed in relief. Perhaps she and her baby would survive all this. She resumed her spell with an extra strength that made the amulet around her neck glow brighter. It looked like it was about to break in half.

 

Maleficent saw it happen but could hardly believe it. Gothel’s glowing energy stepped out of her daughter and put her hands on Rapunzel’s shoulders.

 

“It’s almost over, my darling. Hold on!”

 

 

 

Emma felt a wave of magic coming from all directions – something she didn’t understand – and it gave her the strength to destroy the trigger. The energy built up and then exploded, sending her and Regina and their family to the ground.

 

They had done it!

 

 

 

“It’s gone!” Ruby shouted from standing guard by the window.

 

They all cheered and cried and hugged each other. Blue Beard, feeling exhausted, fell to the ground with a groan of pain. Marie caught him at the last second. He looked at her with tenderness.

 

“You know… You’re the… only person I… ever loved.”

 

He touched her cheek with a trembling hand and then died in the arms of his last wife. Marie cried softly, caressing the old man’s head, as her family sat by her side.

 

The Dwarves and Anton all hugged each other once more, pulling Nova into the group, as a way to greet her in the family. Ruby and her grandmother kissed each other on the cheeks, happy to still be alive and then the young woman hugged Dr Hopper while the older one gave a warm embrace to Geppetto and his little boy.

 

“We made it”, Rapunzel said in shock.

“Yes, you did, her mother answered. And now you can rest, sweetheart. Make yourself and my grandson better.”

 

Rapunzel was shivering so hard, she couldn’t answer her mother. She just nodded, crying and sobbing.

 

“I am so proud of you”, Gothel said.

 

It was her last sentence, before she faded back into the amulet. Maleficent only had the time to see her old friend smile at her before she vanished. Once her mother was gone, Rapunzel’s strength dropped once more and she lost consciousness.

 

“We should get her to the hospital, Dr Whale proposed. I fear for the baby.”

“You need not, Gavin answered. She’s just like her mother. She’ll keep the baby safe, no matter what. Rapunzel is the one we have to worry about.”

 

The whole family helped her out of the room. Maleficent and the fairies exchanged a look but nothing more. They had worked together that day to save themselves and every other issue would have to wait another time. The dark fairy followed her friend’s daughter, hoping to help at the hospital. The other fairies and the witches stayed behind helping everyone else get back home safely and receiving all the hugs and thanks of the citizens of Storybrooke.

 

Grumpy and Nova kissed once more. They still had this day. Before all the hard choices and responsibilities keeping them apart would come knocking, they at least had this day to be together.

 

 

 

Once they had reached the hospital, they all hurried the witch to a room, pulled her through tests and plugged her on machines. She didn’t wake up. Only Wilfried was allowed inside, so Gavin, the king, the baby and the fairy waited outside. They looked through the window, hoping to see Rapunzel move.

 

“Excuse me.”

 

They turned to see the woman who had stood by Blue Beard’s side. His key was now hanging on a chain on her neck. She slowly approached Gavin.

 

“I came to return this. I thought you could need it… for her.”

 

She gave him back his enchanted ring. He took it, thanked her and ran inside the room to put it on his sister’s finger, hoping there was something left from the spell Lady Gothel had cast on it a lifetime ago.

 

“Thank you very much”, Gabriel said to Marie.

“Your daughter helped me face my fears and forgive my first husband before he died. I’m not haunted by him anymore; she gave me closure. It was the least I could do.” She also searched through her pockets and pulled a small emerald. “It was among his things, back in our land. I took it when we thought him dead and I kept it in my hand when we repelled the curse, today. I believe it was taken from a fairy.”

 

She showed it to Maleficent who examined it and acquiesced.

 

“It is. I have seen these stones worn by the fairies of the western realms. It is very powerful.”

 

An urge took over her entire self, telling her to kill this woman and take the stone. With it, she could become stronger… maybe even stronger than before she cast the phoenix spell. Maybe she could even be more powerful than before she lost her wings, an all-powerful dark fairy.

 

She had a shiver and shook this thought out of her mind. She knew the price of magic now, she had felt it herself and saw her friend Gothel lose her mind a little more every day because of magic. Stealing the stone would betray all that Gothel had done for her. She couldn’t do that to her friend. Her only true friend.

 

“Take it, Marie said. You are a fairy, right? You can use it to save your friend. I have no use for this thing and she needs it. They both do. You can make this fairy magic work.”

“I’m not a fairy anymore.”

 

It was the first time she ever spoke of it, but it was true. She had lost her wings a long time ago and, now that she had used the phoenix spell, she was no more powerful than a simple witch. One more false step and she would be like Regina, unable to cast a curse without reading the instructions scroll first. She had another shiver.

 

“Take it, please, Marie insisted. Your friend has changed our lives for the better. I want to give back to her.”

 

Maleficent took the stone and mumbled a ‘thank you’. Slowly, she walked in the room and put it on Rapunzel’s heart, close to the amulet, a gesture that even baffled herself. When the amulet touched the emerald, light began to radiate from the two stones, healing both the mother and the baby. She didn’t know when or how it had changed her, but Maleficent knew that not so long ago, she would have just used the magic for her own needs.

 

 

 

The Doctor walked out of the room, to greet the father and brother of his patient.

 

“I think you can come in now. She’s not out of the woods yet, but there’s nothing more I can do but stabilise her. The other thing, Maleficent can help but Nurse Toren, I mean Rapunzel, will have to do most of her work herself once she regains some strength. As for the baby, he’s perfectly healthy.”

 

They entered the room to see her holding hands with her husband. On a chair, by her side, Maleficent was waiting, the emerald in her hands. Rapunzel was still very pale but she wasn’t shivering any more. There was an aura of sad serenity on her face that clearly said other horrible things were happening but they had gone through the worst for now.

 

The family all hugged each other, as Maleficent explained in more details what Rapunzel was going through.

 

“Gothel’s profound capacity to feel magic – dark and light – was transferred to her daughter when she inherited her magic. But Rapunzel is not like her mother and reacted differently to what happened recently. Instead of losing her mind, she became physically ill. Magic here has been severely unbalanced recently and it was hard on her. She used all her energy to protect the baby.”

“Just like your mother, my Lady, Gavin said with a wink. Killing yourself for your little one.”

“With all the effort I put on giving you a godson, you should stop complaining, Captain”, she answered with the same humour.

 

They shared a laugh but her eyes remained serious.

 

“What’s wrong?” Wilfried asked, worried again.

“Something happened while I was unconscious. A lot of people are gone. I can’t feel their magic anymore.”

“Do you mean they’re dead?”

“No, I – I think they left town.”

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

On the pier, facing the sea, Belle watched the ship disappear into the portal and the water return to calm. Her stare was filled with a pain only she could feel, proof that Lacey was just a bad memory.

 

But now that she was herself again, it also meant she could suffer once more. And she was suffering.

 

“We’ll see each other again”, she muttered more to herself than to her love, gone on that boat, in search for his grandson who had just been taken hostage. “I love you, Rumpelstiltskin.”

 


End file.
